‘The king set forth, without doubt, from the east out of Vík in spring, and the jarl came from the north; they both urged on the black planks. I am able to tell the victory-trees [WARRIORS], those who cut the sea there with their oars, sufficient information as to how their encounters took place. ’

‘The king gave the men a great onslaught, where he advanced into the harbour against Sveinn; blood fell red on the strip of land of Róði <sea-king> [SEA]. The brave king, who brought about their encounter, steered on relentlessly with his [ships], and Sveinn’s supporters tied the ships together. ’

‘There was no cause [lit. it was not] to reproach Sveinn for the din of swords [BATTLE], nor the battle-glad Óláfr for the good storm of the osprey of the battle-moon [SHIELD > RAVEN/EAGLE > BATTLE], because both parties had to strive for the maiming of each other, where men attacked; the army never came into a worse place.’

‘Teitr, I saw chill mail-shirts fall over the shoulders of us both in the glorious war-band of the mighty ruler; a hard sword-din [BATTLE] was waged. And my black hair hid itself under the Frankish helmet at the flight of barbs [BATTLE]; bench-mate, I knew us both to be thus prepared against the army.’

‘The generous one [Óláfr] gained a much greater force for the battle than the mean one [Sveinn], when the illustrious retinue thought to escape the wrath of the mighty king. But for the friendless leader [Sveinn], he who scrimped on payment, it became sparse around the standards; war was waged off the broad plain.’

‘The gilded standard advanced before the noble king, where we, suppliers of the din of the shirt of Gǫndul <valkyrie> [MAIL-SHIRT > BATTLE > WARRIORS], went enraged onto the ships under the banners. It was not then on the horse of the rope [SHIP], before the greeting of metal weapons [BATTLE], as if a maiden were bringing these retainers of the prince mead. ’

‘We pressed, enraged, keenly up on to the ships, where the loud clash of weapons could be heard; reddened blades split the shield. And wounded farmers went overboard, where they fought; the well-appointed ships were captured; not a few corpses floated swiftly by the land-spit.’

‘Men made our shields red, that came there white; that was obvious to the sharers of the sword-clamour [(lit. ‘sword-sharers of clamour’) BATTLE > WARRIORS]. There I think the young king made his advance up on to the ship, where swords were blunted, and we followed; the bird of blood [RAVEN/EAGLE] gained a battle-draught [BLOOD].’

‘Sveinn himself commanded the black stem-fittings be cut off ruthlessly — previously the rowing was close to him in our expectation of riches —, when [his] army had the stems of the ship hewn off, to the benefit of the raven, and corpses were provided amply for the black osprey of Yggr <= Óðinn> [RAVEN/EAGLE].’

‘I declare this, moreover, that very many a battle-envoy [WARRIOR], who travelled from the north, will be missing out on his homecoming in that hard battle. Many a one joined with the sun sank from the dark steed of the sounds [SHIP] to the bottom; true it is, that we met Sveinn offshore.’

‘The wise inner-Trøndelag maiden does not reproach us for our effort in a hurry, although the king’s force was less; I thought so decidedly. The woman will rather hold in derision the company that lunged forward with their beards, if she should [deride] one or the other; we reddened the land of the skerry [SEA].’

‘[His] strength increases, because the Upplendingar want to support this launcher of the plank-horse [SHIP > SEAFARER = Óláfr] as king; Sveinn, you discovered that. There is proof of this, that the Heinir can do more than drink the ale of the man with many warriors; they augment the frost of the corpse-snake [SWORD > BATTLE].’

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